Vice Chairwoman holds super grading meeting

Palm Beach County School Board Vice Chairwoman Debra Robinson held her first of two public meetings Tuesday night to grade the applicants to be the next permanent superintendent.

Robinson and several other volunteers like community activist Jan Porter had each picked one of the 25 applicants and spent the weekend researching their performance at previous jobs.On Tuesday the volunteers stood up and gave their report on their candidate and gave them a grade from 0 to 4 on a long list or “rubric” of criteria that Robinson and community members developed at a previous meeting to score each candidate.

The criteria ranged from years of experience as a superintendent to the minority percentage of students, faculty and community members in their previous school district to the reading and math test score gains of subgroups such as whites, blacks, Hispanics, special education students and English language learners. Candidates were also scored on the graduation rates in their previous school district and their history of dealing with the community and labor unions.

Volunteers at the meeting Tuesday included LaTanzia Jackson, chair of the Coalition for Black Student Achievement, Beverly Ann Barton, who is Robinson’s appointee on the Budget Advisory Committee and who also previously applied to be the interim superintendent, Service Employees International Union chief negotiator Rick Smith, who is currently engaged in contract talks with the district on behalf of its blue collar workers, and a member of the Hispanic Education Coalition which has been critical of the district’s search process and timeline for finding a new superintendent.

Robinson will hold another meeting Thursday, 5:30-8 p.m. at the school district headquarters at 3300 Forest Hill Blvd. to continue grading candidates. Robinson said the grading will influence which candidates she supports when the school board narrows the field down to as many as five finalists on Jan. 18. But she said no other board members are obligated or expected to use the grading system she created.